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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Adhoc vote count started by StellarMonarch on Jul 6, 2024 at 7:31 PM, finished with 253 posts and 39 votes.
  • [X] Nah. You don't have to do anything right now. Go talk to Anri.
    [x] Maybe she's right, and you'll fuck things up. Maybe everything will come crashing down, and things will go right back to the status quo. There are no guarantees.
    -[x] But you don't think leaving her and her girls alive is going to be the big mistake, the one that triggers the fall. Because frankly, they aren't that special. Just another group who did awful things in an awful system.
    [x] You're going to be busy trying to make things better, and probably won't be by for another few weeks. If they have anything particularly important to say at some point, you might take a message. Goodbye.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    -[x] Vote in abeyance for topics.
    [x] "Thank you. My schedule's packed enough as it is without having to coax your redeeming qualities out, so I really appreciate your refusal to have any."
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    [X] "Your worldview is artificially being upheld by a malicious alien intelligence. Think about that and your place in the word."
    [X] Nah. You don't have to do anything right now. Go talk to Anri.
    [X] All the lights go out.
    -[X] Sinister laughter fading into nothingness.
    --[X] The lights turn back on, and Sabrina's no longer there. There's no sign of her.
    ---[X] No sign of anything except a card, drifting gently to the floor, asking her to rate our exit out of ten.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    [X] "If the world worked the way you want it to work, this would be the point where I kill you where you stand, because you're a threat to my interests and unwilling or unable to negotiate in good faith.
    -[X] "Fortunately for us both, the world no longer works that way.
    --[X] "Even if I specifically needed a magical flying USS Iowa, other girls I'm already allied with could manage that.
    ---[X] "Do you have any real allies? Unless someone voluntarily seeks you out, or you choose to socialize with your crew, your next conversation will be with a qualified mental health professional. Hopefully by the end of the week."
    ----[X] walk out while progressively reverting to a lower-polygon model
    [x] Maybe she's right, and you'll fuck things up. Maybe everything will come crashing down, and things will go right back to the status quo. There are no guarantees.
    -[x] But you don't think leaving her and her girls alive is going to be the big mistake, the one that triggers the fall. Because frankly, they aren't that special. Just another group who did awful things in an awful system.
    [x] You're going to be busy trying to make things better, and probably won't be by for another few weeks. If they have anything particularly important to say at some point, you might take a message. Goodbye.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    -[x] Vote in abeyance for topics.
    [x] "Thank you. My schedule's packed enough as it is without having to coax your redeeming qualities out, so I really appreciate your refusal to have any."
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    [X] ...maybe.
    - [X] I sure hope not, but maybe. I'm not invincible, after all. I'm only human.
    -- [X] We can argue back and forth about whether anyone needs to die, but in the end, we can only do what we think is best.
    --- [X] If you really think that your way of thinking is best, then... I can't stop you from thinking that way, can I?
    [X] Good day, Miss Parró.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    [x] Yawn and leave.
    [X] "You know, this sounds suspiciously like you're trying to convince me to kill you. Luckily for you, even if you were suicidal enough to try and do that, you're not going to succeed. Maybe the world used to work like you're saying, but that stops now. I will make it work like I want it to." *Serene_smile.exe*
    -[X] "Now, instead of coming up with cartoon supervillain clichees to quote at me, you may want to consider how you're going to fit into that new world, going forward, or what you're going to say during your trial, but it's up to you. So if there wasn't anything else, please have a nice day."
    -[X] Vote in abeyance.
    [x] "Try talking to Yuki. She thinks a lot more like you than I do."
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    [x] Maybe she's right, and you'll fuck things up. Maybe everything will come crashing down, and things will go right back to the status quo. There are no guarantees.
    -[x] But you don't think leaving her and her girls alive is going to be the big mistake, the one that triggers the fall. Because frankly, they aren't that special. Just another group who did awful things in an awful system.
    [x] You're going to be busy trying to make things better, and probably won't be by for another few weeks. If they have anything particularly important to say at some point, you might take a message. Goodbye.
    -[x] In the meantime, she should try talking to Yuki. She thinks a lot more like her than you do.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    -[x] Vote in abeyance for topics.
    [X] "Your worldview is artificially being upheld by a malicious alien intelligence. Think about that and your place in the world."
    -[X] "Meanwhile, I'm going to go social Darwinist social Darwinism itself, by continuing using my strength to build enduring systems that remove the reason girls feel they have to turn to it. Toodles!"
    --[X] Surround the lights in Grief that's using the quantum-interference light-reflection to be glittery, magnifying the light levels to briefly-overwhelming but not damaging levels.
    ---[X] There's a joy-filled laugh, joined by others, then fading into nothingness
    ----[X] The light levels return to normal, and Sabrina is no longer there. There is no sign of her.
    -----[X] No sign of anything except a card, drifting gently to the floor, asking her to rate our exit out of ten.
    [x] Go talk to Anri.
    -[x] Vote in abeyance for topics.
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Hazard Course Pt. 46
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    • [X] Nah. You don't have to do anything right now. Go talk to Anri.

    You find your mood... undaunted, in the wake of Parró's laughter and condescension. It's not that you don't care about her, because you do want to help her. You do want to help her see a better way, a better future. To give her hope.

    But you don't feel the pressure to do so right this instant. It's not like she's sobbing in your arms, on the verge of a breakdown, after all - you can sense her Soul Gem, tucked away and hidden by virtue of Yuki's magic, and she's nowhere near anything you'd consider distressed. She's angry, yes. Worried, yes. But distressed? No.

    Caught up in her own interests, her own perspective, her own justifications, and unwilling to let go of any of them lest her worldview crumble and leave her with nothing. Most people are similar, you suppose, but the mindset of a raider isn't something you can tolerate.

    And you're working on it. You have plans in motion. Longer term than anything you usually do, but then again, you've only had a few weeks on this world, the first few of which were frantically stabilizing things. Now, you have actual plans, friends working with you, people who believe in your cause. So you're not abandoning Parró or her gang, just... acknowledging that she's a longer term issue.

    And that's fine.

    You don't have to solve everything now now now.

    Parró's ugly smirk slips as you stand, carefully pushing the chair back.

    "There's... a whole lot of things I could say to you," you admit. "But I... I'll let my actions speak for themselves."

    "Wait-" Parró begins, but you cut her off with a sharp gesture.

    You smile, gentle but unyielding.

    "Things can be better, Miss Parró," you say. "And they will be. I hope you'll see that someday soon, and... in the meantime, I'm expecting to be pretty busy. If you've got anything substantial to tell me, I might take a message. So. Until next time, then."

    You let your proxy dissolve, faux-flesh melting into Grief and sloughing off, layer after layer discolouring into abyssal purple and vanishing, slipping away through the vents. And if you take the slightest bit of guilty pleasure in watching the way Parró jerks in shock, well... you're allowed to be a little petty, leaving your Grief eyeballs and a ghostly impression of a grin the last thing to unravel.

    "How did it go, Sabrina?" Mami asks, noticing your attention as she somehow always does.

    "Caw," Mugin adds, hopping over from the back of the sofa to your shoulder and trying to preen your hair.

    "A bit of a waste of time, but also a bit of an epiphany for me?" you say. You roll your shoulders, careful not to dislodge Mugin, and settle back into the softness of the sofa. "So that's nice. Careful, Mugin, I don't actually have feathers."

    "Oh?" Mami asks, pressing a cup of tea into your hands.

    "Yeah... ah, before I explain, were you listening in, Miss Tsuruya?" you ask Yuki, smiling quickly at Mami as you take a sip.

    She shakes her head, tugging lightly on her...

    Huh. You've never seen her hair out of that tight ponytail before. But now she has it loose and splayed out over Shinobu's lap in an enormous purple sheet, the much larger girl slowly weaving it into a braid with delicate, careful fingers. Even so, Yuki's eyes are fixed on you, alert and watchful.

    "Merely the lightest touch of attention to ensure nothing was amiss, Miss Vee," Yuki says. "It seemed to be the thing to do."

    "Right, yeah," you say. "So... frankly, she's kind of an ass. Just... completely unrepentant, and trying to convince me something about how it's a nasty world out there and about us needing her services in a good cop, bad cop way or something, otherwise there's no reason to keep her alive."

    "That has the ring of something she convinced herself of," Yuki observes.

    "Agreed," Mami says, sighing lightly. "I've certainly heard... things in that spirit, before."

    "Because if she's wrong about that, then the things she's done using that justification were also wrong," you say with a sigh echoing Mami's. "Yeah. It's not that I don't understand it, I just think it's... sad, really. It's what I want to fight, but still."

    "We'll get there someday, Sabrina," Mami promises, her hand closing on yours and squeezing gently.

    "We will," you say, squeezing back and turning face Yuki. "I'm sorry, but I'll be asking you to hold onto her longer."

    "I expected as much," Yuki says, managing to look unruffled and dignified even with her hair spread out in a giant purple curtain, slowly being incorporated into a french braid. "It would be... quite the miracle if you'd managed to work out something within the span of a conversation."

    "I feel like I should be able to, sometimes," you grumble. "But anyway. We're working on getting mental health professionals and all, so... I hope it won't be too much of an imposition."

    "As we've discussed before, 'warden' is not a position I want to occupy long term, but long as progress is being made, I am satisfied," Yuki says, nodding. "So no, Miss Vee, it's no imposition."

    "OK, good," you say. "Please do let me know if it starts to wear on you, though, I'll figure something out."

    "I shall," Yuki says.

    "What was that epiphany you mentioned, Sabrina?" Mami asks, gently leaning her weight against your shoulder.

    "Oh, well... just that I don't have to tilt at every problem placed in front of me until I grind it down to rubble based on sheer attrition," you say. "And... I suppose that attitude has its point for some situations I've encountered, but I can't help but feel like there have been, ah, situations where that wasn't the right response."

    "Persistence and tenacity can be useful traits," Mami offers, her eyes seeking yours.

    You smile back at her reassuringly.

    "It can," you say. "And I'm not abandoning that attitude, and I'm definitely not giving up in any way. Just... it's just a reminder that sometimes, I do have to take a step back from the immediate problem."

    "I suppose that is a good lesson," Mami says, chuckling softly.

    "I would tend to agree," Yuki says gravely.

    Shinobu snickers.

    "Can't imagine why you'd say that, Yuki," she says.

    "Shush, Shinobu," Yuki says. "Now, Miss Vee, did you still want to speak to Miss Airi? Will you be taking your, ah, Grief body?"

    "Yes and... yes," you say, after a thoughtful sip of tea. "How has she been, by the way?"

    "Quiet," Yuki says after a moment of consideration. "She requested a laptop, which I felt reasonable to grant, especially considering that as far as we know, she has no allies who might feel beholden to come and rescue her. Beyond that, she has been focused on her own issues - she's shown no inclination to try to escape or do us harm."

    "Right, that's good," you say, nodding gratefully at Yuki. Deftly done, talking around the fact that Anri's 'own issues' would happen to be Yuuri's Clear Seed, left with her.

    "She hasn't been eating terribly well," Yuki notes. "But I've had a difficult time getting a list of foods she might prefer out of her."

    "Alright, that's... yeah, alright," you say. "I'll see what I can figure out?"

    "That would be appreciated," Yuki says, inclining her head.

    With your curiosity satisfied, you take a minute to form a proxy body once more - with your Soul Gem, this time. The proxy forms much faster this time, now that you've got it down, Grief seeming to spin out of thin air behind you in successive layers. Except...

    "The Soul Gem doesn't look right, Sabrina." Mami nudges you in the side.

    "... yeah, I see it," you say, half-twisted around the sofa to squint at the faux Soul Gem.

    It glitters in the light, the gold frame affixed on 'your' lapel as it should be, and the silvery-white of 'your' Soul Gem built of layers of carefully nanostructured Grief. It looks like a perfectly ordinary gem, albeit of a colour no mundane gem is. But that's all it is: a perfectly ordinary gem. There's just something missing from it, some vital lustre that you have no idea how to replicate.

    "... hm," you say. "I... guess I'll go without. Hopefully Miss Airi won't take that amiss."

    With that decided, you settle back into Mami's side, leaning against her and tuning the conversation out as it returns to more mundane topics - Mami and Shinobu swapping baking tips, of all things, while Yuki looks patiently amused, submitting her hair once more to Shinobu's ministrations.

    It's another short trip down the corridors, the door swinging open ahead of your hand once more in an odd wave of deja vu, and you step through that little dislocation and into Anri's room. It looks much the same as it did previously: a discarded pile of clothes, now pushed into the corner, and rumpled bedsheets on that bed you can see past the little study table, which is admittedly new, along with a little potted fern sitting by the window.

    Anri herself, in all her twin-tailed glory, is sitting at the laptop, clicking desultorily away with Yuuri's Clear Seed cradled in her left hand. She's sitting on that same plush chair you'd noticed last time, now pulled up to the table, half-slouched into the cushion. Her eyes flick up to you as you step into the room, staring blankly at you for a moment before her brain engages.

    "Oh. You," she says dully.

    "Good afternoon, Miss Airi," you say, toeing off your boots and pulling off a bit of Grief to sit on. "How are you?"

    She sighs.

    "Still stuck in here, as you can see," she says drily. "What do you want?"

    [] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
    De-witching progress, Yuuri's Grief Seed, Body Manufacture, Evil Nuts Asunaro Almonds

    =====​

    Argh. I hate to do this, but this is yet another update cut short - my energy is rapidly running out, and I don't want to leave PMAS dry for three weeks. That said, this is an opportunity to refine your approach and topics, if you decide to, if not, I'll just take the original ideas and run with it.
     
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    • Firnagzen said:
    "What do you want?"
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    "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favours come at too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this."

    "Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Miss Airi?"
     
    Frickin Fedora said:
    We should take the question literally, and start listing everything we want to change about the horror show that is this world.
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    [] I want to turn every witch who's ever existed into a magical girl
    [] I want to make sure that nobody ever turns into a witch again
    [] I want to build a world where everyone helps everyone, and in so doing overthrow capitalism
    [] I want to live a long life with Mami
    [] I want to make sure you get to live a long life with Yuuri
    [] More immediately, I want to see if you're doing okay. Yuki says you're not eating well. What foods do you like?
     
    NSMS said:
    "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favours come at too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this."

    "Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Miss Airi?"
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    Lopezelpesado said:
    Well we should also ask her how she has been doing and adress the whole not eating well thing.
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    I'm picturing these happening back to back in the same plan.
     
    Godwinson said:
    "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want."

    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ
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    You know, the first time I heard that song (as more than just background noise, I mean) I thought it was kind of odd how they were able to get a song about joining a polycule (if you want to be my lover you gotta get with my friends) on the radio.

    I mean I know now that it's actually just a grrl power "friends before boys" song, but at the time I thought it was weirdly progressive.
     
    Fanart time! I recently stumbled across an art style that reminds me of the cover art from the paperbacks I used to read all the time as a kid, and I started imagining what PMAS would look like as a novel series. I'm not doing them in any particular order, but here's the first cover I've finished:

    Also, if anyone's curious, here's what it looked like fresh out of PixArt Sigma before I spent a few hours touching it up in Krita:
    (if you're wondering about the different aspect ratio, I originally generated it at 1024x1024 before outpainting the top third, just to be sure the title wouldn't be covering up anything important)
     
    DataSnake said:
    Fanart time! I recently stumbled across an art style that reminds me of the cover art from the paperbacks I used to read all the time as a kid, and I started imagining what PMAS would look like as a novel series. I'm not doing them in any particular order, but here's the first cover I've finished:

    Also, if anyone's curious, here's what it looked like fresh out of PixArt Sigma before I spent a few hours touching it up in Krita:
    (if you're wondering about the different aspect ratio, I originally generated it at 1024x1024 before outpainting the top third, just to be sure the title wouldn't be covering up anything important)
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    Honestly? That looks much more impressive than most book covers I've seen.
     
    DataSnake said:
    Fanart time! I recently stumbled across an art style that reminds me of the cover art from the paperbacks I used to read all the time as a kid, and I started imagining what PMAS would look like as a novel series. I'm not doing them in any particular order, but here's the first cover I've finished:

    Also, if anyone's curious, here's what it looked like fresh out of PixArt Sigma before I spent a few hours touching it up in Krita:
    (if you're wondering about the different aspect ratio, I originally generated it at 1024x1024 before outpainting the top third, just to be sure the title wouldn't be covering up anything important)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Very nice, too bad we couldnt steal it tho :V
     
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